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While I hear a constant barrage condemning "Chinesium," I've very rarely heard about Chinese made tools actually failing when the brand is reputable.
My dead 1/4 drive ratchet was 'Mercian made.
The screwdriver tip that broke last night was American made, from the vaunted Western Forge no less.
I've no primary source for a broken Chinese made Craftsman tool. Lots and LOTS of "My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw a Chinese made combination wrench break at 31 Flavors last night."
Chinese made things depend a great deal on keeping them on a tight leash.
If you take your eyes off them, they slack off like nobody's business.
I'm reminded of Star, the Spanish gun-maker.
If you paid for it, Star would hold to a spec that even Colt, in its heyday, would be challenged to match.
If. You. Paid. For. It.
If you balked at the price, they'd drop the fit and finish steps until the customer was happy with the price.
That's why you can find Super B's that are exquisitely finished, and some which look like they were made with a hand file by a drunk.
China is no different.
Of course, they're Godless Commie Bastards and that's reason enough to hate the fuckers.
And I do.
The last few years of US made Craftsman were generally garbage, and the China stuff was likely better quality. But with the reputation of bad quality starting to grow, the China source change was seen as yet another betrayal from a company that used to be an icon.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, Sears was Amazon before the internet. If only the C-suite clowns would have been looking forwards instead of working so very hard on wringing every last drop of cash equity out of a retail giant, those brands and products could still be around and worth something today.
Ben C
There are lots of Chinesium tools like screw drivers where the point melts and bends as soon as it comes in contact with a screwhead, drill bits that actually untwist (I've had cheap chinesium drill bits do that in cheap soft pine 2x4s from Homer Despot,) hammers where the shaft bends while hammering, pliers where the teefs get rounded out quicker than lowest-grade bolt heads and other chinesium disaster tools.
ReplyDeleteThen, yes, there are quality Red China tools, and quality Republic of China (in Taiwan) tools that are as good as decent quality Americum tools.
You get what you pay for. Pay for a 200 set of screwdrivers for $10.00 and expect them to be as good as that expensive Craftsman, Kobalt, Smap-on and other decent brands.
And sometimes that pack of cheap chinesium has one or two actually to-spec or better tools. Sometimes. Occasionally. Maybe. Bleh.
Life is too short to buy crap tools.
I tell folks all the time…. They make iPhones, for Pete’s sake, they understand quality manufacturing when you pay for it.
ReplyDeleteMy employer’s experience has been that the Chinese appear to have a cultural tendency to give you the lowest quality that you’ll accept. We get great product when we supervise, inspect, and outsource QC to a third party, which brings the cost up to about what you’d pay a reputable manufacturer in the first place.
And if we go with the reputable, first world plant to start with, we don’t run the risk of “The Party” coming in one day and diverting all production to the government, or stealing our IP, or drafting our workers etc. etc. the list goes on.
"Chinese made things depend a great deal on keeping them on a tight leash.If you take your eyes off them, they slack off like nobody's business."-
ReplyDelete100% this. If they feel like they can get away with something by pulling one over you, it's seen as a being clever (a virtue) and not deceptive ( a sin). There's a culture of cheating..in school at and at work.. that's deeply rooted in that society. -JKing
..and in addition to my previous comment, this applies to mainland Chinese. Hong King Chinese are still sufficiently westernized but that'll probably not be the case in the coming years. -JKing
ReplyDelete